“I love when people tell me I can’t do something”: The Crazy-Inspiring Story of Summer AND Winter Paralympic Medalist Alana Nichols

I was always playing different sports as a kid—tee ball, basketball, softball—and eventually discovered snowboarding when I was 14. That’s late for most people to pick up the sport, but it worked for me—I was in love with the adrenaline rush. It was a sport that was totally unlike any other. When I was snowboarding, it was the first time I felt I could be creative and express myself through my tricks. I was totally hooked.

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The day that changed everything On November 19, 2000, when I was 17 years old, a group of my friends and I went up to Durango [Mountain resort in southern Colorado], near where I grew up, to snowboard. It was early, and the resort wasn’t open yet, so we went out to the backcountry and built our own jumps. One of my buddies had already hurt his back earlier, which in retrospect should’ve been a warning sign for me to take extra caution. But that’s not how things worked out.

I had been thinking about doing a back flip on the mountain all summer long. I’d been practicing on a trampoline with my snowboard. So when the first snow came, I was eager to try it for real. I told everyone I was going to go for it, but I pushed too hard and over-rotated. After doing one-and-a-half flips, I landed on my back on top of a rock. Nobody knew it was beneath the patch of snow that we were using as a landing area.

Immediately on impact, I felt my back break. I screamed louder than I ever had before—but it wasn’t so much out of pain, but rather shock from how my body was feeling. It was like a wave of energy had disappeared from my waist down, and I couldn’t feel my board or boots anymore. When my friends told me I was wearing them, I knew something was wrong with my legs. I lay on the snow for about an hour before the ambulance could get to us—this was before cell phones became popular—but I had to be airlifted with a helicopter.

Learning to cope with tragedy I was really confused for the first few days I was in the hospital following the accident. The doctor came in and told me that I broke three vertebrae, and in particular the T11, which had shattered and caused bone shards to hit my spinal cord. He told me I was paralyzed, and that if I was going to get the feeling back in my lower half, it would happen within the following two years… or not at all.

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At the time, I was 17 years old, and I didn’t really understand the consequences of my actions. I thought I’d be walking again in no time. But when a different doctor told me that I would never walk again, that made me come to terms with reality. And it was not easy.

I had been an athlete throughout my entire life, and that’s how I still identified myself. Being paralyzed made me feel like that wasn’t who I was anymore, and it was devastating. Originally, before the accident, I had been hoping to go to college on a softball scholarship—but now everything was different.

I spent the first two years at the University of New Mexico mourning my loss as an athlete. I missed my legs and everything that came with them—walking, running, jumping. I used to be so active that I didn't know who I was anymore. Those were the hardest two years of my life because I didn’t want to—couldn’t—accept what had happened.

Becoming an athlete again One day I was passing the school gym and I spotted people playing wheelchair basketball. I had learned about wheelchair athletics previously, but being a hardcore athlete before my injury had for some reason turned me off to the idea—I was way too proud to consider it. But as I watched the intensity of these guys and girls hitting each other and falling over in their chairs—pretty violent stuff—I was pumped. It was the first time I came around to the idea that I could be a true athlete again.

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After getting into wheelchair basketball, I began to consider the idea of getting back on the mountain. Then, the Santa Fe Mountain Resort contacted me. I’m not sure how they heard about me, but the resort offered me a grant to ski. At first, I turned them down—I wasn’t ready yet. But a year later, they reached out again, and I accepted their offer.

I only skied maybe twice before transferring to the University of Arizona to play collegiate-level wheelchair basketball. After that, I skied a few times during Christmas break, but I really focused on basketball… and after years of playing, ultimately made the U.S. women’s Paralympic basketball team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“I love when people tell me I can’t do something.”

Before I left for Beijing, I made my way up to the Winter Park, Colorado to visit the National Sports Center for the Disabled program. I told the ski coach that if I went to Beijing and won a gold medal [editor’s note: she ultimately did win the gold!], I’d use the winning money to move to Colorado and pursue the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics in skiing.

But the coach—who still trains me today—told me that it was impossible, and that I should focus on the 2014 games for skiing—to forget about Vancouver. Well, that only fueled my fire. I love when people tell me I can’t do something. I really believed that I had it in me to go to Vancouver. Of course, I doubted it at times, but it was the challenge of this goal that really kept me going. My coach still eats his words.

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Editor’s note: Alana won two gold medals, a silver medal, and a bronze medal at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic games.

For the love of the game—and the slopes There are pros and cons for both basketball and skiing. For basketball, I love the journey of accomplishing a goal with a group of women. You watch everyone grow, and it’s a huge life experience to work so hard for something with a group of girls and have it come true—that was one of the most incredible parts of Beijing. It’s something I miss on the ski hill. I don’t have that camaraderie.

On the slopes, I appreciate the fact knowing that if I win or lose, it’s all on me—I like that I’m in control. It’s a different feeling [messing up with skiing] than if a teammate misses a free throw. Also, I feel a little outnumbered since there are a lot of male skiers—but I have to hold my ground. I try not to be intimated by them, so I act tough. It’s funny because I have to soften up when I go home to see my family after being around so many guys.

In terms of my basketball career, I want to end on a high note, so I’m tempted to go to the 2014 games in Rio De Janeiro [Editor’s note: The U.S. team came in fourth place at the London Olympics.]. But one of the hardest things with ski racing is that it’s a dangerous, risky sport—five months ago I dislocated my shoulder and broke my ankle. When it comes to making the call on basketball, I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

As for Sochi, I’m feeling really good. My shoulder is recovering nicely, and I’m on track. I’m currently qualified to compete, and I have my sights set on it. I’m hoping to do all five events—downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined. But I still have to do a lot of work to get where I want to be as a competitor. We’ll just have to see.

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